The WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Regulations are aimed at producing environmentally sound ways of dealing with waste kit for manufacturers, distributors, sellers or users.

ByBox says that customers can use its service to demonstrate compliance which also provides full visibility and traceability over the movement of all parts and equipment that now fall within the definition of the WEEE Directive.  It was developed to meet the needs of a specific customer but has been adapted so it can be integrated into any supply chain.

Under the new regulations companies need to prioritise the reuse of electrical items or demonstrate they have been sent for recovery or recycling and keep full records of these movements.    ‘In the case of IT and telecommunications equipment, for example, the WEEE rate of recovery has to be increased to a minimum of 75% and component, material and substance reuse and recycling increased to a minimum of 65%,’ said a spokesman for ByBox. ‘Clearly, companies will benefit greatly if their supply chain or distribution systems can recognise, track and record the life cycle of these items in detail, and provide verifiable confirmation that WEEE requirements are being met.’
 
The original customer, The Tech Guys (the support service operated by DSG), uses the service to track the many computer components it sends to its engineers to repair breakdowns or fix problems and then tracks what is used, what is not, and what happens to the part replaced.
 
The Tech Guys now produce ByBox labels on their own system and tag these to each part being sent out to engineers to collect from their nearest box bank. They then produce an FTP document for the parts and send it to ByBox. Thus, when unused and faulty parts return to the ByBox Distribution Centre in Coventry they can be scanned and The Tech Guys know which parts will be returned where.
 
With this added visibility over movements, The Tech Guys can then decide whether this is the correct route, depending on whether the part is used, unused or faulty, and change the route if necessary to meet the WEEE requirement to reuse, repair or recycle whenever possible.
 
To assist with this decision, ByBox provides The Tech Guys’ engineers with two sets of labels that are colour-coded green for good and red for faulty.
 
In the case of faulty parts that may contain sensitive data, the onus is on the company to ensure they are repaired or destroyed properly. The Tech Guys send these parts to a third party specialist and they are scanned again on arrival to continue traceability. Once there, the parts are tested. Those repairable are repaired and sold on, and the others destroyed and the fact documented by the third party. 
 
‘In essence what we have created is a highly flexible new labelling system linked to an efficient track and trace capability that is inserted into the existing supply chain,’ said Stuart Miller, chief executive of ByBox.

‘This can be adapted as required to meet the needs of all kinds of companies wanting greater control over their parts movement to and from engineers, or we can design a bespoke new supply chain system from scratch that increases productivity and efficiency, and which factors in the additional measures imposed by WEEE as part of the overall process,’ he added.